Playing against GM Alexander Shabalov in Chicago open 2014,
Photo Eric Rosen

When planning my summer chess trip of five tournaments
in USA, I had a very clear target: 50 fide ratings points and three
grandmaster norms. At the end of Chicago Open, I have already
achieved 1/3 of my target! So, what really happened at the Chicago Open??

I started off the tournament in the worst possible way due
to fatigue and tiredness, asI blew up a
clearly won endgame in round 1 and drew against Karthik Ramachandran (FIDE rating:2109). Round two was more pleasant as I beat Daniel Aldrich(FIDE rating:2066) quite easily.In Round 3, I
was paired against GM Conrad Holt (FIDE rating:2555), who is known to be a very strong
theoretician, but I managed to gain an opening advantage in his French Be7
setup, only to blow up the advantage and agree to a draw on move 22.

Round 4 was a tough matchup for me, as I was paired against
University of Texas at Brownsville student and Canada's top rated player GM
Anton Kovalyov(FIDE rating:2637). It was a very tense game, where the game
quality was quite high, and I lost the thread just before the time control,
allowing my opponent to capitalize on my inaccuracies and overpower me in the
endgame. At this point of tournament,I
was down, but I was quite happy that I was able to get really good positions
against Grandmasters.

I played with Webster School student and fellow St.Louis
player Iskandar Aripov(FIDE rating:2231). This was a quick game, as he erred in
the opening, and allowed me to demolish him in 25 moves. In round 6, I had the
black pieces against Dennis Monokroussos(FIDE rating:2295). I had a better
understanding of Queens Gambit Accepted than my opponent, which allowed me to
exploit his opening inaccuracy and win a quickie in 33 moves. At this point, I
was at 4/6 and was confident that I would finish in the prize list.

I was paired against former US Champion GM Alexander
Shabalov (FIDE rating:2506). Shabalov is very well known for his aggressive
playing style, so he choose a rarely played Ne5 setup against my Moscow
variation in Sicilian.

In this game I had a clear target on my opponent's e5 pawn, and all I did was
attack it throughout the game.

This victory gave me new vigor and hope that I
still had a chance for my GM norm, but never in my wildest
dreams, did I think I'd share the title.

Round 8 I was up against UTD alumni GM Julio Catalino
Sadorra (FIDE rating:2611). Having the black pieces against a 2600, I took a cautious approach, and played my favorite Queen's Gambit
Accepted. I got a position which was very interesting by move 12, but I slowly
sensed that the game maybe slipping away from me, so I had to make a very bold
move in move 15, which after the game came under heavy praise from my opponent. Even the computer takes a few seconds to
realize the beauty of 15....g5!!

The game was very tactical and tense till my opponent blundered with 26.Rf1 giving me my first win against a 2600.
Sadorra,Julio Catalino (2611) - Priyadharshan,K (2420)
[D27]

Even the computer takes some time to realize how good
this move is. My opponent was confident that g5 would make it into a chess book! I
played this move, as I thought g6 was a passive defensive move and it would
take me to uncomfortable positions.16.Ne4 h5
17.Qg3 Nxe4
17...Nf4?! 18.Nxg5 Qxd4 19.Qxf4 Qxf4 20.Bxf4±18.Bxg5
it looks like black has over extended and his king is
struck in the center, but the loose white pieces in the center of the board,
provides ample chances for black 18...Rc8
Capturing the control of the open file [18...Qb6!? a very
interesting idea that I missed, when I played Rc8 but flashed on my mind
immediately after playing Rc8..this is not an extremely good idea 19.Rd1 (19.Nb3
0-0-0 20.Bxg5? h4 21.Qg4 Rdg8) 19...Rc8; 18...g4!? 19.Bd2 Qb6 20.Nb3 a5
21.Rac1 Rd8 22.Rc2 white is more comfortable. 19.a5
Isolating the b4 pawn, and also creating a possible
checking square on a4 against the black king 19...g4 20.Bd2 Bg5?!
20...Rc5 21.Nb3 Rc4 22.Qd3 Qc7 23.f4 0-0!! that's a very
brave but a very good move 24.Rac1 Rc8 25.h3 Bc5+ 26.Kf1 Ba7 27.hxg4 hxg4
28.Qg3 f5 29.exf6 Nxf6 this position is super complicated, as both the kings
are extremely weak.21.Bxg5 Qxg5 22.f4 h4 23.fxg5
23.Qf2?! Qh6 24.f5 g3 25.Qf3 h3 26.Qxg3 hxg223...hxg3 24.hxg3 Rc4 25.Rad1 Ke7

I had guessed that most probably I would be paired with the
America's latest GM Kayden Troff in the final round, and I was sure that a win
would fetch me my GM norm and possibly a share for the first, but I wasn't
ready to go for a win straight away. As a psychological decision, I offered my
opponent a draw, to show my intent to him, am ok with a draw too, though I knew
the rejection possibility was very high.

My opponent, as I guessed, refused my
draw offer, but by move 12, felt highly uncomfortable with his position, and
made a draw offer, which I refused, as my position was very good. I had a very solid positional edge throughout
the game, which I cashed in during his time trouble, to win the game.
Priyadharshan,K (2420) - Troff,Kayden W (2484) [B52]
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Bd7 4.c4 Nc6 5.Nc3 Nf6 6.d4 cxd4
7.Nxd4

Piling up the pressure on the c-file
17...Nxc5 18.Qxc5 Be6 19.b3! Be5 20.Na4
20.Ne2!? I found this move pretty interesting over the board,
but I strongly felt the knight should be on c5.20...Bh2+ 21.Kh1 Bd6 22.Qc3 Be5 23.Qc2!± Bf4 24.Rfe1 Bxe3
25.Rxe3 Rfd8 26.Nc5 Qe5 27.Rd3 Qf6 28.Rcd1
Rdb8 29.Kg1 a5 30.Qc3 Qxc3 31.Rxc3 Rb6
I had a clear plan in mind, of how to win this game 32.f4 Kg7 33.Kf2 Kf8 34.g4

There was no time to celebrate the biggest success in my
tournament career, as I had to leave to Saint Louis the same night for the Saint
Louis GM Invitational. I scored 4/9, and gained one rating point, which cannot
be considered a complete disaster, after such a good performance in Chicago. But
it showed that I still have huge holes in my game, which I would have to
rectify before I start the second and final leg of my chess tournaments stating
with NY International and ending with the World Open.

I would like to use this opportunity to thank my family, who
have been a pillar of support behind every decision I make in my life, and to
all my coaches, especially my current trainer GM R.B.Ramesh, who is more like a
mentor than a coach. The support that Lindenwood University have provided in
the past 2.5 years, have also played a major part in my tournament success in
America. I also need to thank the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis
for all the wonderful opportunities they have provided me in the last 2.5
years, without which I wouldn't have so much passion for chess.
Find full information and standings of the Chicago Open at http://www.chicagoopen.net/ and the full story on the GM Invitational in STL here.